Cradle of Filth - Dani Filth
Questions: Adam Parry
After 24 years and 10 albums, England’s “extreme/black/heavy metal” outfit Cradle of Filth return with Hammer of the Witches, their first album in three years. Formed in 1991, the band have had a constant revolving lineup, with founding member and vocalist Dani Filth the only constant. Known for their controversial imagery as much as their powerful music, Cradle of Filth continue to shock and surprise.
Dani spent some time on the phone with Caught in the Mosh to talk about the new album, how he flooded a Sydney hotel and whether the new tour will make it to Australia...
The latest Cradle Of Filth album, Hammer of the Witches, has just been released. How has it been received so far?
Well I can only go by the almost 300 interviews I have done, where generally they think it’s really good. I’m just going by that really. I haven’t really had the time to peruse social media just yet. Up until last week we have been playing a festival in Southern Germany and since then have just been busy with interviews. So I think it’s all good. I think they’re really enjoying it. The few fan messages I’ve read say they seem to be loving it.
Throughout the history of the band, Cradle Of Filth have been known for their stunning visuals, whether it be music videos, album artwork or t-shirts. How important do you feel this is to the overall image of the band?
I just think it’s really important to explore every facet of the band. We’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of fabulous people, whether they be artists, like the new album artwork done by Arthur Berzinsh, a contemporary artist who has done a fantastic job of translating my lyrics into visuals, or whether it’s video directors or anyone like that. I just think it’s really important. You work so fucking hard on an album for so long that when you get to the visual side of things, representing the art, I just find it really creative and really fun. I’m also a horror movie buff and a lot of my friends are involved in the film industry and so I just love being a part of that. It’s great.
The band has released 11 albums over 24 years. Is it hard to keep coming up with content of such a dark nature and such complex composition?
Well, it’s not easy, by any means; otherwise everyone would be doing it. But it’s not impossible either. The hardest thing is to grab hold of a concept and ideology to pertain to the music and keep people interested in that way. I mean, it’s a massive adventure every time we undertake an album. As I explained, we want to explore every facet of our art and getting the top people in every field and getting it all cohesive is a monumental effort. As with anything in life, you chip away at the block until the statue is finished.
You have such a demanding vocal style, which must be quite physical live. How do you manage to maintain such a difficult style of vocals, again and again, both live and in the studio?
Well this album was particularly difficult. Because the nature of the tracks and the tuning and the speed and agility, we had the vocals
be a lot more like they were, back in the day. Back like 15 years ago, when they were a lot higher, so it was screaming, just like
willy-nilly. For this album I had to tune it so the screams were higher, so I had to hit the right pitch and the right note. Half way
through my career I had a bit of an issue and I eventually found this amazing voice coach, who does a lot of throat manipulation.
It got rid of the equivalent of singer’s tennis elbow and that has helped a lot. It really gave my voice a new lease of life and it’s more
Dani spent some time on the phone with Caught in the Mosh to talk about the new album, how he flooded a Sydney hotel and whether the new tour will make it to Australia...
The latest Cradle Of Filth album, Hammer of the Witches, has just been released. How has it been received so far?
Well I can only go by the almost 300 interviews I have done, where generally they think it’s really good. I’m just going by that really. I haven’t really had the time to peruse social media just yet. Up until last week we have been playing a festival in Southern Germany and since then have just been busy with interviews. So I think it’s all good. I think they’re really enjoying it. The few fan messages I’ve read say they seem to be loving it.
Throughout the history of the band, Cradle Of Filth have been known for their stunning visuals, whether it be music videos, album artwork or t-shirts. How important do you feel this is to the overall image of the band?
I just think it’s really important to explore every facet of the band. We’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of fabulous people, whether they be artists, like the new album artwork done by Arthur Berzinsh, a contemporary artist who has done a fantastic job of translating my lyrics into visuals, or whether it’s video directors or anyone like that. I just think it’s really important. You work so fucking hard on an album for so long that when you get to the visual side of things, representing the art, I just find it really creative and really fun. I’m also a horror movie buff and a lot of my friends are involved in the film industry and so I just love being a part of that. It’s great.
The band has released 11 albums over 24 years. Is it hard to keep coming up with content of such a dark nature and such complex composition?
Well, it’s not easy, by any means; otherwise everyone would be doing it. But it’s not impossible either. The hardest thing is to grab hold of a concept and ideology to pertain to the music and keep people interested in that way. I mean, it’s a massive adventure every time we undertake an album. As I explained, we want to explore every facet of our art and getting the top people in every field and getting it all cohesive is a monumental effort. As with anything in life, you chip away at the block until the statue is finished.
You have such a demanding vocal style, which must be quite physical live. How do you manage to maintain such a difficult style of vocals, again and again, both live and in the studio?
Well this album was particularly difficult. Because the nature of the tracks and the tuning and the speed and agility, we had the vocals
be a lot more like they were, back in the day. Back like 15 years ago, when they were a lot higher, so it was screaming, just like
willy-nilly. For this album I had to tune it so the screams were higher, so I had to hit the right pitch and the right note. Half way
through my career I had a bit of an issue and I eventually found this amazing voice coach, who does a lot of throat manipulation.
It got rid of the equivalent of singer’s tennis elbow and that has helped a lot. It really gave my voice a new lease of life and it’s more
about self-preservation and technique really. It is difficult, extremely difficult but each to their own really. If you’re good at somethingand you’ve got the ability to do it, it becomes a natural instinct, especially after 24 years.
Over all those years you have managed to have a great level of success despite never having any great radio play or mainstream media coverage. What is it Cradle Of Filth does differently to other bands that has made this possible?
I don’t know (laughs). I can’t tell you to be fair. We have been on a major label; we’ve been on Sony and Roadrunner, so that helped a lot. I couldn’t say other than that really, I think we have just managed to capture people’s imagination at the right time. I also think that some people are looking for something eclectic and something to call their own and I think if it was mainstream, it would lose a lot of its appeal. I mean it’s big enough, but I think people favour things that are a bit beneath the surface, a bit serious, a bit more engaging.
You guys have been to Australia a few times over the years, do have any funny stories of your time down under?
Yeah, plenty. There was a time we flew from Japan into Sydney. We had a quiet night and got there quite late. We had a few glasses of champagne but nothing major, it was just totally jet lag, but the next day we had a signing session. I remember our tour manager knocking on my door, waking me up. I got out of bed really blurry eyed, went to the bathroom started running a bath. Next thing I know, there’s another knock at the door. I jumped out of bed thinking this is déjà vu. I jumped out of bed into this boiling water puddle! The bath had no run off; I had filled the bath and it had overflowed and it had flooded the best part of the Holiday Inn! It cost me $4000 to get the carpet repaired (laughs). Our tour manager broke the door down and burnt his arm pulling the plug out of the bath. Yeah... It was pretty mad... It was literally a complete mistake but apparently it had happened quite a few times before. I don’t know if it was something the hotel just did to ensure they got an extra bit of change or what (laughs) but yeah, that was pretty wired.
You’ve recently released Hammer of the Witches. Do you think Cradle Of Filth will be making their way down to Australia again as part the tour for the new album?
Well, we are actually in the midst of planning the world tour. The first section of it is sorted; the European side that starts from the 15th of October and that runs until the end of November. We are in discussions about a South America, North America and Canadian tour, although the dates aren’t cast in stone. But we have been in discussions already about coming to Australia and New Zealand because that’s something that’s been on the Cradle bucket list for quite some time. I don’t know why we haven’t been to New Zealand before but we want to do that in conjunction with Australia. I’d say it’s 80-90% definite for around April/May next year. So that’ll be great. We’re really looking forward to it.
Over all those years you have managed to have a great level of success despite never having any great radio play or mainstream media coverage. What is it Cradle Of Filth does differently to other bands that has made this possible?
I don’t know (laughs). I can’t tell you to be fair. We have been on a major label; we’ve been on Sony and Roadrunner, so that helped a lot. I couldn’t say other than that really, I think we have just managed to capture people’s imagination at the right time. I also think that some people are looking for something eclectic and something to call their own and I think if it was mainstream, it would lose a lot of its appeal. I mean it’s big enough, but I think people favour things that are a bit beneath the surface, a bit serious, a bit more engaging.
You guys have been to Australia a few times over the years, do have any funny stories of your time down under?
Yeah, plenty. There was a time we flew from Japan into Sydney. We had a quiet night and got there quite late. We had a few glasses of champagne but nothing major, it was just totally jet lag, but the next day we had a signing session. I remember our tour manager knocking on my door, waking me up. I got out of bed really blurry eyed, went to the bathroom started running a bath. Next thing I know, there’s another knock at the door. I jumped out of bed thinking this is déjà vu. I jumped out of bed into this boiling water puddle! The bath had no run off; I had filled the bath and it had overflowed and it had flooded the best part of the Holiday Inn! It cost me $4000 to get the carpet repaired (laughs). Our tour manager broke the door down and burnt his arm pulling the plug out of the bath. Yeah... It was pretty mad... It was literally a complete mistake but apparently it had happened quite a few times before. I don’t know if it was something the hotel just did to ensure they got an extra bit of change or what (laughs) but yeah, that was pretty wired.
You’ve recently released Hammer of the Witches. Do you think Cradle Of Filth will be making their way down to Australia again as part the tour for the new album?
Well, we are actually in the midst of planning the world tour. The first section of it is sorted; the European side that starts from the 15th of October and that runs until the end of November. We are in discussions about a South America, North America and Canadian tour, although the dates aren’t cast in stone. But we have been in discussions already about coming to Australia and New Zealand because that’s something that’s been on the Cradle bucket list for quite some time. I don’t know why we haven’t been to New Zealand before but we want to do that in conjunction with Australia. I’d say it’s 80-90% definite for around April/May next year. So that’ll be great. We’re really looking forward to it.
Well we would all love to see you back here.
Now with Cradle Of Filth, which do you tend to prefer; playing the live shows or the process of writing and recording albums?
Well, I love that part (the writing and recording). It’s a cycle; you get immersed in it. It’s great. But after you record on and off for four months, that’s the last fucking place you want to be. You just start itching to go out on the road and you really look forward to it. But dare I say, after doing it for a year and a half, two years, you just want to go back to the studio. So it’s a bit of a love/hate relationship with all of it really. But you know, it’s great. But you just can get tired of anything.
After 24 years of darkness, blood, witches, hell and women with their tits out on album covers, do you ever feel like doing something completely different? Like wearing bright yellow clothes and singing about puppy dogs and kittens?
Ummmmm, no....... I was pretty much born this way (laughs). I have my other band Devilment that are considerably different from Cradle Of Filth. In fact, both bands played the same festival this past weekend - one of on Friday and one on Saturday. Both bands played Grasspop a while ago too. Devilment are also in the midst of writing album number two. That is something we will do slowly but surely over the summer. So that is a bit like a pressure valve for me. Cradle is so complex and everything is so professional and organised, it’s just a relief sometime to get away and do something different where there’s no real expectations. So I have a lot of fun with my other band as well.
Before you go is there any last words you’d like to say to the Cradle Of Filth fans of Australia?
Yeah, I’d just like to thank everybody for supporting the band! And if they want to find out anything about the forthcoming tours, or the album or anything else with the band, we update our social media pages very often. As much as I despise Facebook in general, that really is the place to be to find out about everything that’s going on. So I’d love to direct everyone to the Cradle Of Filth Facebook page or the Dani Filth Facebook page or cradleoffilth.com because they get updated three to four times a day. So that’s where you’ll find all your info.
Well thank you so much for joining us Dani.
Thank you very much.
Now with Cradle Of Filth, which do you tend to prefer; playing the live shows or the process of writing and recording albums?
Well, I love that part (the writing and recording). It’s a cycle; you get immersed in it. It’s great. But after you record on and off for four months, that’s the last fucking place you want to be. You just start itching to go out on the road and you really look forward to it. But dare I say, after doing it for a year and a half, two years, you just want to go back to the studio. So it’s a bit of a love/hate relationship with all of it really. But you know, it’s great. But you just can get tired of anything.
After 24 years of darkness, blood, witches, hell and women with their tits out on album covers, do you ever feel like doing something completely different? Like wearing bright yellow clothes and singing about puppy dogs and kittens?
Ummmmm, no....... I was pretty much born this way (laughs). I have my other band Devilment that are considerably different from Cradle Of Filth. In fact, both bands played the same festival this past weekend - one of on Friday and one on Saturday. Both bands played Grasspop a while ago too. Devilment are also in the midst of writing album number two. That is something we will do slowly but surely over the summer. So that is a bit like a pressure valve for me. Cradle is so complex and everything is so professional and organised, it’s just a relief sometime to get away and do something different where there’s no real expectations. So I have a lot of fun with my other band as well.
Before you go is there any last words you’d like to say to the Cradle Of Filth fans of Australia?
Yeah, I’d just like to thank everybody for supporting the band! And if they want to find out anything about the forthcoming tours, or the album or anything else with the band, we update our social media pages very often. As much as I despise Facebook in general, that really is the place to be to find out about everything that’s going on. So I’d love to direct everyone to the Cradle Of Filth Facebook page or the Dani Filth Facebook page or cradleoffilth.com because they get updated three to four times a day. So that’s where you’ll find all your info.
Well thank you so much for joining us Dani.
Thank you very much.
Hammer of the Witches is out now. Physical copies from JB HiFi, downloads from iTunes, Amazon and Google Play. Various bundles are available from Nuclear Blast.
